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 Opposition lawmakers from left and right called on President
Enrique Pena Nieto to detail all of his properties, saying he had
undermined his own efforts to battle corruption.
Meanwhile, legal experts and two former government officials tasked
with overseeing public servants, said the assertion by Pena Nieto's
office that the plot of land was donated by his father was
inaccurate, if, as the public registry document seen by Reuters
stated, he was named as sole purchaser.
"If he appears as the buyer, there's no way he can say it was a
donation," said Elizabeth Yanez, a lawmaker from the center-right
opposition National Action Party (PAN) and a member of the
transparency committee in Mexico's lower house.
"He is falsifying," added Yanez, who formerly held one of the top
posts in the Public Administration Ministry, an executive-branch
watchdog known by the Spanish acronym SFP.
An official at the president's office declined to comment on the
objections to how the property was described in the official
document.
Reuters found that Pena Nieto bought a 1,000 square meter piece of
land in the town of Valle de Bravo in 1988 from a third party, a
property he had declared to authorities was donated.
The document showed that Pena Nieto directly purchased the property.
There is no reference to his late father in the document.
Under Mexican law, even if his father gave him the money to purchase
it with, he could not declare it as a donation, lawyers said,
pointing to articles 7610 and 7620 of the Civil Code of the State of
Mexico, the region where Valle de Bravo lies.
Pena Nieto lists five other properties as donations from his
parents, but has given no details on where they are located.
The president has been under pressure in recent months over a series
of conflict-of-interest scandals centered on properties that he, his
wife Angelica Rivera and Finance Minister Luis Videgaray acquired
from government contractors.
"These sorts of excesses, evidence of falsehood in his declaration
of assets ... are incredibly serious," said Alejandro Encinas, a
left-leaning senator and former Mexico City mayor, calling for all
the assets to be properly disclosed.
The revelation over the land showed the presidency was undermining
its own pledges to improve transparency, he added.
Mexican public officials face no requirement to publicly explain the
source of any funds that were used to obtain properties they receive
as gifts, but they are required to accurately declare how they
acquire their properties.
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Enrique Aubry, a congressman for the Green Party, allies of Pena
Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), defended the
president, saying he had shown he meant to clean up politics by
promulgating a new anti-corruption law this week.
Aubry argued that Pena Nieto's foes were trying to discredit the
president before mid-term elections due on June 7.
"Because it's election time, they're trying to hurt the government,"
he said.
Prior to the report published on Thursday, the president's office
had declined to give answers to various questions about differences
between his declaration of assets and the document obtained by
Reuters via a public information request.
Presidential spokesman Eduardo Sanchez posted a letter to Reuters
correspondent Simon Gardner on the presidency's Website late on
Thursday stating that Pena Nieto's father bought it and decided to
put it in his son's name.
Several lawmakers responded to the Reuters report by saying the
assets of all top officials should be made public.
In addition, Mexico needed to change the law to put an end to
presidential immunity, said PAN senator Laura Rojas.
"If not, the number one public figure in the country will still be
subject to exemptions," she said.
(Additional reporting by Mexico City newsroom; Editing by Kieran
Murray)
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